Bradley and McCain Make Gains While Gore Slips in New Hampshire

Manchester, NH (CNSNews.com) - Former
New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley is leading Vice President Al Gore in the latest New
Hampshire presidential poll, while on the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain picked
up double-digit support on frontrunner George W Bush but the Texas governor still
maintains a large lead over his challengers.

In another poll taken last month McCain registered only ten percent with likely voters
along with Elizabeth Dole and Steve Forbes. In the latest survey McCain's numbers have
jumped to 23.4 percent while Bush's slipped slightly from 47 percent to 43 percent.
Perhaps more hurt by McCain's surge have been Dole and Forbes who have seen their numbers
now slip to under ten percent.

The survey, released late Thursday and sponsored by Franklin Pierce College and WNDS-TV,
shows Bradley with an eight-point lead over the vice president among likely Democratic
primary voters.

According to the survey of 258 registered Democrats, who said they are likely to vote in
the February 1st primary, 42.2 percent said they support Bradley, while 34.5 percent gave
the nod to Gore. The undecided vote was 22.5 percent. The poll has a margin of error of
6.2 percent.

A month ago, the same poll showed Gore ahead of Bradley 44 to 37 percent.

On the Republican side, the poll shows Bush maintaining his lead over his GOP challengers
with 43.3 percent, McCain at 23.4 percent, Elizabeth Dole at 7.5 percent, Steve Forbes
with 6.3 percent, Patrick Buchanan at 3.6 percent, Alan Keyes at 2.8 percent and Gary
Bauer at 2 percent. The number of undecided voters totaled 10.3 percent. The poll has a
margin of error of 6.2 percent.

In a general election contest, Bush defeats Bradley 51.2 percent to 35.5 percent, with a
margin of error of 4.2 percent.

In the same general election survey, Bush defeats Gore 45.4 percent to 41.1 percent. The
figure represents a statistical dead heat, since the margin of error is 4.2 percent.

Last month, the survey found Bush beating Gore 48 to 39 percent.

A Boston Herald poll of 403 likely Democratic New Hampshire voters, taken Tuesday and
Wednesday of this week and released Thursday, was also good news for Bradley.

The survey found the former senator leading the vice president 39 to 37 percent. It was
Bradley's first "win" among likely Democratic primary voters. However, with a
margin of error of five percent, the contest remains a statistical tie.

The same poll, taken in June, showed Gore leading Bradley by 12 points.

Bradley showed strong support among independent voters and those with a negative view of
President Clinton. By a margin of two to one, Bradley won the independent vote, while Gore
scored well with traditional Democrats, who told pollsters they favor him because of his
experience or his stands on issues.

The poll found a majority of New Hampshire voters believe Bradley would be a more
effective leader than Gore.